The British Museum inflates the tension with Greece as, after its decision to loan a piece of the Parthenon marbles to the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, it is currently considering three more overseas loans from the Elgin Marbles, bringing on more reactions, according to British newspaper “The Independent”.
The British Museum has recently made a request to loan an artefact from the Athens’ Museum of Cycladic Art, for its upcoming show, “Defining Beauty: the Body in ancient Greek Art”, which is scheduled to open March 6. “We have requested to borrow” an important work from the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens for the show, told a British Museum spokeswoman at the “Art Newspaper”, but the Greek museum has yet to respond one way or another. Denying a loan to the British Museum is Greece's way of getting back at the institution, despite the friendly curatorial relationship between the two museums, reports Artnet News, while the “Independent” also characterizes the delay as a “retaliatory move” by the Greek authorities.